Bucknell University
22-8, 12-2PL
Navy
3-25, 0-14PL
Bucknell Claims Outright Patriot League Regular-Season Title After 64-55 Win over Navy
2/25/2012 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2012
| BUY PHOTOS | Video Highlights
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Junior center Mike Muscala scored 19 points and the senior class made some key plays down the stretch to help Bucknell to a 64-55 win over Navy on Saturday at Sojka Pavilion. With the victory, the Bison secured the outright Patriot League regular-season title with a 12-2 record (22-8 overall), and they will go into next week's Patriot League Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row.
Muscala, who was coming off a 26-point, 14-rebound effort at American less than 48 hours earlier, went 6-for-8 from the field and 7-for-7 from the foul line, and he also collected six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals. Joe Willman added 12 points and six rebounds, and reserve guard Ben Brackney played very well in the second half, totaling 10 points on perfect shooting: 2-for-2 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the foul line.
Isaiah Roberts scored 19 points to lead the Midshipmen (3-25, 0-14 PL), who will be the No. 8 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will have to travel right back to Lewisburg for a quarterfinal game on Wednesday night.
Even though Navy came in on a 20-game losing streak, the Bison continued their recent shooting struggles and had a hard time breaking away. Bucknell shot 41.3 percent from the floor, went 5-for-17 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 16 times, one shy of its season high. With the exception of an early 2-2 tie, the Bison did hold the lead throughout, and after a 7-0 run to end the first half put them up 28-17, they led by at least eight for the entire second half.
This was a grind-out win for the Bison against a Navy team that drained the shot clock most of the way down on most possessions and also tried to clog up the lane defensively with a compact zone defense. Bucknell came away with a 22nd win for the ninth time in program history. Now 12-2 at home this season, the Bison became the first team to win 200 all-time Patriot League regular-season games. They are now 200-94 in 22 seasons of Patriot League play.
Since the Patriot League's inception in 1990-91, Bucknell has now won 12 or more conference games in the regular season five times, and the Bison are 25-3 over the last two seasons.
With 1:24 remaining and Bucknell leading 54-42, Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen sent reserve seniors Enoch Andoh and Probese Leo out to join classmate and four-year starter Bryan Cohen. After the Mids closed within 10 on a Jordan Sugars put-back with 1:05 to go, they began fouling, and Andoh and Leo made some big shots down the stretch to ice the win.
Andoh went 4-for-6 from the foul line, and Leo rebounded one of his misses and put it back in for his first points of the season. Leo went 2-for-2 at the line with 13 seconds left, giving him a career-high four points, giving the Bison a 64-52 lead, and giving Paulsen the chance to get the seniors off the floor to a standing ovation.
The Bison cracked that 2-2 tie with an 11-3 run, capped by Cohen's drive down the middle of the lane for a layup. Bucknell never trailed again, but the lead was just four at 21-17 when the Bison broke it open with seven straight points in the final 92 seconds of the half. All seven points came on offensive rebounds. Willman made two free throws after being fouled on a put-back attempt. Then Willman hustled down an offensive rebound that led to a Bryson Johnson 3-pointer, and finally Muscala rebounded a Johnson miss and stuck it back in just before the buzzer to make it a 28-17 game at the break.
Bucknell's largest lead was 15 points at 38-23 after a Brackney 3-pointer with 14:59 remaining. After Navy pulled within nine on Roberts' breakaway layup, Brackney hit another key trey from the left corner to make it a 50-38 game with 5:04 to play. Brackney then went 4-for-4 at the line in the final 2:22.
Bucknell finished with a 36-24 rebounding edge, including 10 offensive caroms. The Bison also held Navy to 38.9 percent shooting, as the Mids went 6-for-22 from long range.
With his 19 points, Muscala became the 13th Bucknell player to eclipse 1,300 career points.
Wednesday's Patriot League quarterfinal game will begin at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. For ticket information, call 570-577-1000.
Bucknell-Navy Video Highlights
